


Fe-lying

by JuniperP1



Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-27
Updated: 2018-09-27
Packaged: 2019-07-18 03:20:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16109711
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JuniperP1/pseuds/JuniperP1
Summary: Carmilla keeps a cat in her dorm.Carmilla's not supposed to keep a cat in her dorm.





	Fe-lying

“ _Mmmrow_.”

“Shut it, Bags.”

“ _Mrrrow_.”

“Bagheera, I mean it.” Carmilla glared at the small grey tabby where he was standing by the dorm room door. The tip of his tail flicked impatiently as he looked between her and the doorknob. Carmilla, however, remained unmoved, keeping her gaze locked on Bagheera until he seemed to lose interest and began cleaning his paw

Carmilla kept watching him suspiciously for a few more moments before dipping her eyes back behind her textbook. With luck, she could polish off these readings before they petrified her brain.

“ _MRREEOW_!”

Carmilla jumped up from her bed, tossing the book onto her pillow. “Look fuzzball,” she hissed, scooping the cat up, “you can't go out there. You're not supposed to be here and if someone catches you, it's straight back to kitty prison with you. Is that what you want?”

The only response she got was a contented purr as he nuzzled against her shoulder. She sighed and stroked him with her free hand as she walked back to her bed, puzzling out the logistics of holding her textbook and her cat simultaneously.

_ Knock Knock Knock _

“Carmilla? It's Perry. Can you come to the door? We need to talk.”

“Shit,” said Carmilla, under her breath, “uhhhh, just a minute! I'm not decent!” she called out, carrying Bagheera towards the closet.

“Is she ever decent?” came the voice of the floor don's nerdy tagalong, LaFontaine. Carmilla couldn't help but smirk at the remark as she gently tucked Bags into his kennel, throwing some treats in after him in hopes of keeping him quiet.

Sliding the door shut, she knew her best bet was to go on the offensive. With one fluid motion, she peeled her shirt off and tossed it into the corner, mussed up her hair up a little so it looked like she'd just woken up, and put on a suitably irritated scowl. Ready for battle, Carmilla flung open the door. 

Her two less-than-welcome visitors, who'd been talking quietly when she tore the door open, were suitably taken aback by an irritated Carmilla, clad only in her bra and jeans. LaFontaine gained a sudden and intense appreciation for the hallway’s crown mouldings while Perry's gaze became rigidly fixed with Carmilla's, a satisfyingly uncomfortable smile plastered across her face. 

_ I wonder if the drama department needs someone to understudy the Cheshire cat. _

“So… Carmilla,” Perry started shakily, “I was just up the hall, talking with the Residence Director, and I could've sworn I heard meowing coming down from the end here.”

Carmilla fought to keep shock off her face.

_ She heard him that far down the hall? These doors must be made of tissue paper. How have I not been caught before now? Oh well. In for a penny... _

“Seriously? You woke me up because you heard meowing?” Carmilla snapped, “did it not occur to you that it may have been coming from somewhere that, oh I dunno,  _ isn't _ my room?”

“She's got you there, Perr. Assuming that just because you heard a meow-like noise from down here that it must've come from the one person who keeps to themself is a poor assumption.”

“LaFontaine, I am  _ not  _ simply assuming. There are two rooms down at the end here, hers and Laura's”—Perry pointed across the hall—”and we spend enough time with her that we know that she doesn't have a cat.”

“Oh, so your  _ friend _ could be the culprit, but you conveniently decide not to investigate her. I wonder how our dear Director would like to hear about your casual nepotism.” Carmilla cursed internally at having to throw the cute girl across the hall under the bus, but desperate times…

Perry seemed to be at a loss for words, stammering as she struggled to form a sentence.

“Hey guys.”

_ Speak of the gorgeous devil. _

“What's going on out here?” asked Laura, “I heard my name. Is something wrong?” 

“Oh, no Laura. Nothing's wrong,” Perry said brightly, “

LaFontaine nudged Perry in the side, looking pointedly between Carmilla and Laura.

Carmilla had to fight to keep the scowl on her face as the people in front of her engaged in what appeared to be a full scale argument entirely in meaningful looks.

An exchange apparently failed to escape Laura's attention as well. “Are you sure everything is alright?”

“Well, actually…” started Perry reluctantly, “I heard what sounded like meowing from here at the end of the hall. You wouldn't know anything about that, would you?”

“Meowing? I…” Laura paused as she caught Carmilla's gaze from across the hall. “...yes, I do. I was watching cat videos and I started meowing at the screen cause of how cute they were. There's an adorable one of the grumpy cat just being a normal cat and napping. She's sooooo cute! Wanna see?”

“You were meowing, Frosh?” asked Laf, grinning madly.

“Yeah… I mean, it's not like I thought I'd have an audience. I’d really like a cat of my own, but we can't have pets here, so I make do.” Laura shrugged.

Perry looked incredibly relieved. “Well, I'm glad that's cleared up,” she said brightly, “Carmilla, I'm terribly sorry for the inconvenience.” She glanced evasively at Carmilla's bra. “I’m sure we’ll be seeing a lot of you… Have a pleasant day!” She smiled and took off back up the hallway.

“Frosh, Brood-queen,” Laf said with a wave as they hurried off in Perry's wake.

Carmilla kept the annoyed look on her face, waiting until ginger one and ginger two had disappeared around the corner. As they passed from view, she let out a sigh of relief before remembering that she still wasn’t alone.

“Hey…”

“Hey.”

“Uh, thanks for the help, Cutie. I thought they'd never leave.”

“Oh they're not so bad. Laf is really helpful with my homework and Perry bakes the most amazing brownies you have ever tasted. And my name is Laura.”

“I know… uh, I mean…” Carmilla stammered, her cheeks growing red, “sorry, name's Carmilla.” She stuck her hand out awkwardly.

“I know.” Laura giggled, taking Carmilla's hand. “Nice to meet you finally.”

Carmilla, for her part, tried to form words, but found herself distracted by the hand held by her own. 

_ This girl's hand has no right to be this soft. _

Laura coughed politely, drawing Carmilla's gaze, though she still didn't relinquish her hand. “Far be it for me to dictate your comfort levels, but did you mayyybe want to put on a shirt?”

Carmilla looked down at her current state of undress before she finally dropped the handshake —which she might have let go on a bit too long if she was being honest— and scrambled back into her room to retrieve her shirt. A melodious giggle followed her through the door as she grabbed it and dragged it over her head.

“Better?” asked Carmilla.

“Better,” agreed Laura, “not that the previous state of affairs was all that unpleasant,” she added with a wink.

_ Error: Carmilla's brain has encountered a problem and needs to shut down. Please contact your system administrator. _

“So…” said Laura.

Carmilla startled out of the mild fugue state she'd been in. “So?”

Laura looked at Carmilla expectantly as she closed the door behind her. “Can I see it?”

Carmilla blushed as her mind promptly hopped in the gutter and ran off to some very pleasant places. “I-it?”

“Yeah,” said Laura, “your cat.”

“My cat… yes, my cat. Shit! Bagheera!” yelped Carmilla as she finally snapped out of it. She threw open the closet door and dropped to her knees before gingerly easing him out of his carrier. “Oh bud, I'm so sorry I had to stick you in there for so long.” She pulled him close to her chest as she worked her fingers through his fur, the feline purring under her ministrations. 

As she got back to her feet, she noticed Laura smiling gently at them. “Bagheera, this is Laura. Laura, meet Bags.” She twisted herself around so that Bagheera was facing Laura.

“Hello Bags,” said Laura as she reached out to scratch his head. He pushed into her fingers, eyes closing in contentment at all the attention. “Oh, aren't you friendly.”

“Only to people he decides he likes,” said Carmilla, “he hates my brother, tries to get a pound of flesh for every attempt at petting him.”

“Just like his owner?”

Carmilla smiled warmly at the cat. “Just like his mama.” It wasn't until Carmilla caught Laura's adoring smile that she realized what she had said. She coughed. “I mean, uh… yeah.”

Carmilla quickly made a beeline to the bed. Sitting cross legged, she set Bags down in her lap.

“Not exactly 'Black as the pit and terrible as a demon, is he?’”

“‘More grey as a storm cloud and terrible as a bunny’.” Bagheera twisted in her lap to begin play fighting with her hand. “You read Kipling?”

“Not voluntarily. Lit is an annoying requirement for journalism.”

Carmilla raised an eyebrow. “Not a fan of the classics?”

“Oh, no. I like them just fine. What I hate is putting up with three hours a week of regurgitated, and frankly wrong, lectures about the author's intent and allegorical nonsense.”

“I always found that to be the best part. I love seeing how quickly I can bring the prof to tears when I start picking things apart,” said Carmilla, “my record stands at ten minutes.”

Laura chuckled. “So you're the ‘unresolved issues’ that prohibit class discussions.”

“Ah, my work is recognized by a broader audience.” Carmilla spread her arms and closed her eyes, basking in unheard adulation.

_ “Mao!” _

“Yes, your mama is getting a big head,” teased Laura.

“I think that was actually cat for ‘why did you stop petting me?’.”

“Well, that's a fair question too.” Laura leaned forward to scratch him between his ears

“Y'know…” came a voice from the door. 

Both Carmilla and Laura jumped, Laura doing her best to put herself in front of Bagheera.

Laf stood there smirking at them. “...most people generally like to get a date under their belt before they let someone stroke their… cat.”

“Cat? There's no cat here,” stammered Laura as she posed awkwardly, “I mean that would just be… WHAT'S THAT IN THE HALL?!” Laura pointed past Laf’s shoulder.

“A convenient distraction most likely,” said Laf, continuing to smirk right in her direction.

“Or maybe something very important that needs your attention for about…” Laura took a quick glance to the side, judging the distance to the closet, “fifteen seconds?”

Laf chuckled and closed the door behind them. “You know that Perry has known about the cat for months, right?”

“Wait, what?” said Carmilla.

“Yeah.” They strode past Laura, moving so they could give Bagheera a greeting scritch.

Bagheera, oblivious to the potential implications of having been found out, purred in utter bliss at having a third set of fingers to bestow pets.

“Perry’s not quite as in the dark as most people think.” They started pointing in the directions of other dorms. “Cat, dog, cat, cat, ferret. That one has a pet tarantula for some reason.”

“Ew,” said Laura.

“I dunno, it’s actually kinda cute,” said Laf, “once you get past the fangs, it’s really just an eight-legged hamster.”

Laura shivered. “I’ll stay on this side of the fangs, thanks. Also, eight-legged hamster is a terrifying mental image, so thank you so much for that.”

“I aim to please.” Laf tipped a non-existent cap at Laura.

Laura glowered at Laf before looking thoughtful. “Wait, does this mean I can actually get a cat?”

“Please don't actually,” said Laf, “the more pets there are, the harder it gets for Perr to act like they're not here and the closer to completely losing it she gets.”

“So why come knocking my door of she's trying to be all ‘see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil’?” asked Carmilla.

“Because you own a fur covered air raid siren,” said Laf, “and plausible deniability only goes so far when her boss hears it too. On that note, you owe frosh here big for giving Perry the out.”

“I'm not normally one to agree to favours, but y’know what?” said Carmilla, “you kept Bags out of the pound… or worse, my brother’s place. How can I repay you?”

Laura blushed and started stammering. “Oh, well. It was nothing. You don't need to do anything. I mean we could go… no… no. Don't worry about it.”

Laf stared flatly at Laura before turning to Carmilla themself. “You could take little miss modesty here on a date.”

“Lafontaine!” exclaimed Laura, turning even redder, “I mean, sure it’d probably be fun and I know I'm in a bit of a dry spell but—”

“I'm game,” Carmilla heard herself saying before she caught herself. Obviously her own dry spell was affecting her restraint.

“Excellent!” declared LaFontaine. They pointed at Carmilla, “alright, you pick her up at six, take her to that place you like.”

“I don't have 'a place’,” protested Carmilla.

“Everyone has ‘a place’. Figure it out what it is. And you”—they pointed at Laura—”wear something nice.” They paused for a moment. “Or, y'know, you can take point if you want. I'm not going to tell you what to do. That's not me.”

“Except when it is,” said Carmilla so only Laura could hear, eliciting a giggle.

_ Mental note: get a recording of that sound and play it on loop forever. _

Laf smirked at the interaction but said nothing about it. “Well, I'll leave you two alone to play with your… cat.”

Both girls blushed fiercely and Carmilla flung a pillow at Laf, just missing as they slipped out the door.

“Sorry, about them,” said Laura, “they've been trying to get me to go out with someone for months.”

“My sister's the same,” said Carmilla, “there are no words quite as worrying now as ‘Darling, I've just met the loveliest young woman.’.”

“Well, not to worry,” says Laura with a smirk, “I'm not lovely in the slightest.”

Camilla looked Laura up and down. “I would disagree with that.”

Laura blushed again, brushing a lock of hair behind her ear. “Well, who am I to argue?” Her eyes lit up. “Oh, I know! There's the best little coffee shop just a few blocks from campus. I love their hot chocolate but they're supposed to have the best coffee as well. You like coffee, right? You seem like a coffee person. Unless you're into tea. Are you? I don't know if they do good tea, but I can check.” She pulled out her phone.

“Whoa, whoa, Cutie. Reel it in,” said Carmilla, gently pushing the phone back down, “I like coffee just fine.”

“Great, let's go!” Laura hopped up and began to head for the door.

“Wha… wait. Now?”

“Well, yeah.” said Laura before she paused, “unless you don't want to. I mean Laf kinda sprung it on you, so we don't have to go out if—”

“No!” interrupted Carmilla, wincing at her own outburst,  “I mean… I'd love to go out, really. I’d just kinda focused in on ‘pick her up at six’.”

“Well, just look at it this way,” said Laura, “this way we get to have our date without Laf getting total credit.”

Carmilla smiled. “Hmm, alright. I didn't take you for the devious sort cupcake.”

Laura looked at Carmilla with what could only be described as ‘seduction eyes'. “Oh, I think you'll find I can be taken in all sorts of ways,” she purred before flinching, obviously realizing what had just slipped out of her mouth, “but that's probably more of a third date kinda conversation,” she stammered.

Carmilla, who's mind had once again taken up residence at ‘Chez Gutter’, nodded idly in agreement

“Great!” said Laura, “I'm gonna go put on a real shirt and then we can go!” She scampered out of the dorm room.

Carmilla watched after her as she left. As the door shut behind her, Carmilla flopped back onto the bed. “Bags, I think I'm in love.”

“ _Mrow.”_

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by a prompt I tripped across on tumblr oh so long ago.
> 
> Thanks to jessi_08 for betaing this for me.


End file.
